Way existential

A new year is upon us, 2014 is dead and buried, it's all about 2015. For those of you who still want to cling on to the last throes of Christmas, here's my favourite seasonal musical offering of 2014, very kindly introduced to me by @maxthoren: Weeping Willows covering Stevie Wonder's 'Someday At Christmas'. Marvel at Magnus Carlson's vocal.

Anyway it's already the 3^rd day of January which can mean only one thing: SALES!! I did a quick little sojourn round the Sheffield high street yesterday but managed to apply a surprising amount of restraint and came away empty handed. Aided no doubt by the fact that I omitted Primark from my itinerary. I have of course already spent some GBP in the sales, does the Pope shit in the woods or what? A bonus feature of Asos Premier is having access to the sales a day early, yes please. Again I managed an element of restraint and opted not to buy a pair of Kurt Geiger boots for 50 quid. A thing of beauty they were too. I did buy an Asos' own brand holdall in navy polka dot though. My current one is rapidly falling to bits and I've long been searching for a suitable replacement that isn't tarnished by a large sports logo but also doesn't cost a bomb. Frugal see. This one seemed perfect on paper and only 12 quid, however when I opened the parcel the end product was pitifully small. I'd either misjudged the measurements or they were listed incorrectly, quite possibly the former. A pair of trainers more or less filled the whole thing up. Holdall my arse, more like holdfuckall! I excel at travelling light when I go away, only bringing the bare minimum luggage, but it'd be nice to be able to pack more than just some spare footwear and a fresh pair of boxers. Refund R Us.

I also purchased a couple of Asos' own brand chinos at a bargain-centric price of £6 each. These daddies are definitely staying put.

Chinos should be the basic staple of every man's wardrobe, they're like the carbohydrates of clothing. In the sharp words of Cher, the virgin who can't drive: “They're way existential!”. A quick glance in my wardrobe revealed that I already have chinos in royal blue and red berry, in fact I'm an orange pair away from a rather precisely gradient rainbow, but the more the merrier. Particularly at that price. Grabbing the first available opportunity to wear my new acquisition, a must surely, I ventured out to the cinema, via the high street, in this ensemble (Cher speaking again):

I'm not much for new year's resolutions, not really much for new year's as a concept even, but my motto for this year is all things better – eat better, drink better, sleep better, spend money better, buy better clothes, enjoy myself better, get better haircuts, go on better holidays, exercise better, live better. By 'better' I really mean 'more'. A slave to capitalism I am. Karl Marx is most definitely sending me evils from up above/down below.

Start as you mean to go on, the first day of the year that wasn't a complete write off featured the first cinema trip of 2015. I love the cinema but I don't go nearly as often as I should. To rectify I'm going to aim to go once a week for the next 12 months and see what happens. Might have to take in the odd action dirge and rom-com schmaltz but it'll be worth it.

The cinematic year couldn't have started any better, Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) is quite possibly going to be the best film I'll see all year. Spectre and Star Wars – The Force Awakens, will (hopefully) be great but in completely different ways. Birdman was simply put astonishing. Award worthy brilliant. Excellently acted – Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone (who'd have known), clever, darkly comic, engaging, exhilarating, technically flawless and with a brilliant soundtrack. Shot and edited in such a way as to create the impression that it's a few long single takes set in real time, it's absolutely mind blowing. Alejandro G Inarritu take a bow. Do yourself a favour and set aside a couple of hours for Birdman, you won't be disappointed. It's like way existential!